James Dean: Tomorrow Never Comes

by Darwin Porter, Danforth Prince

America's most enduring and legendary symbol of young rebellion, James Dean continues into the 21st Century to capture the imagination of the world. In recognition of his enduring appeal as Hollywood's most visible symbol of unrequited male rage, bars from California to Nigeria and Patagonia are named in his honor.

Dean, a strikingly handsome heart-throb, is a study in Tough but tender; brutal at times but remarkably sensitive; a reckless hellraiser badass who could revert to a little boy in bed. From his climb from the dusty backroads of Indiana to the most formidable boudoirs of Hollywood, his saga is electrifying.

He claimed that sexually, he didn't want to go through life with one hand tied behind his back. He corroborated his identity as a rampant bisexual through sexual interludes with Marilyn Monroe, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Natalie Wood, Shelley Winters, Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, Ursula Andress, Montgomery Clift, Pier Angeli, Tennessee Williams, Susan Strasberg, and (are you sitting down?) both Tallulah Bankhead and (as a male prostitute) FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton wanted to make him her toy boy.

Tomorrow Never Comes, the newest in Blood Moon's critically acclaimed Babylon Series, is the most penetrating look at James Dean to have emerged from the wreckage of his Porsche Spyder in 1955. He flirted with Death until it caught him. Ironically, he said, "If a man can live after he dies, then maybe he's a great man."

Before setting out on his last ride, he also said, "I feel life too intensely to bear living it."

Tomorrow Never Comes is published in recognition of the 60th anniversary of his early death. It presents a damaged but beautiful soul, and the embarrassing and sometimes lurid compromises James Dean made on his road to "success" before his demons grabbed him.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

744 pages, Paperback

First published March 7, 2016

About the author

Darwin Porter (1937-) is an American travel writer, producing numerous titles, mostly for the Frommer guidebook series, over a 50-year career span.

Reviews

[Lisa Stethem · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. Just wow!! I can't believe the amount of quoted content in this book along with the disturbing use of many many words. It's hard to make me blush but this book used certain words and phrases I was embarrassed to read silently in my head. I'm sure there are bits of this book that are true but James Dean didn't live long enough to do all the people this book implied. But at least everyone who was anyone in the 50s was thrown under the bus and shamed. I am taking this with a grain of salt and a shot of tequila. My goodness. Just call this a bioporn

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Dean: Tomorrow Never Comes arrives on the 60th anniversary of the violent death of a young star that became a legend, but if readers who are prior fans of other James Dean biographies expect this to be another rehash of information, they'd be happily mistaken.

Much of its information has never been published before, because it offers new unauthorized details, uncensored information, and also includes powerful, in-depth analysis of a supporting cast of contemporaries. Insights from a closeted TV producer who first discovered James Dean, and others who interacted with him and often suffered from his mental swings and murky sexual explorations add to and expand the existing popular literature on this icon.

From Dean's early TV career and his involvements with other actors and actresses to the truths about his sexual liaisons, the parade of women who marched into and out of his life, and his frustrations in the industry, James Dean: Tomorrow Never Comes makes for a vivid read especially recommended for prior fans of Dean's life and times.

Be forewarned: this audience shouldn't expect a light coverage. The in-depth survey, with its amazingly large cast of contemporaries and characters, myths refuted and realities explored, and high-octane drama packs in over seven hundred pages of detail, which may look daunting, but which offer a rollicking good read.

With so many facts and insights packing its pages, James Dean: Tomorrow Never Comes is a highly recommended book for any who would uncover more facets of the life and times of James Dean.

[G · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shaking my head at this one. It's absolutely packed to the gills with information gleaned from interviews, pulp magazines, and other dubious sources. Some of it is accurate but some... not so much. As someone who spent years researching Dean (and considering writing a biography about him myself) I found loads of absurd errors that should have been caught with even a cursory proofread. For example, a section about Dean's relationship with Pier Angeli starts with mentioning the beginning and ending dates of the relationship -- but they state it took place in 1955, not 1954. By November of 1954, the relationship was heartbreakingly over and she had married Vic Damone.

Anecdote after anecdote from people who met Dean is featured, each taken as fact, though some include long conversations that could not possibly be recalled in such detail. Nearly every person who met Dean, according to these remembrances, slept with him. Honestly, if you add up the number of men and women who claim to have had long dalliances with James Dean according to this book, it might even exceed the number of days that he was living in NYC and Los Angeles as an actor. Good grief.

I give this one star because there are some worthwhile nuggets to be gleaned from all this research. But, wow. What a hot mess of lurid tales.

[Zechariah David · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's impressive that anyone could weave lies so seamlessly alongside the true timeline of Dean's life. This book is impossible to stomach and filled with lies, stories from the fantasies of a 14 year old (with writing to match), and capitalizes on a young man's death and sexual identity to try and make a quick buck